Reunification

Reunification is the process of reuniting unaccompanied children with their families.

Children may be separated from their caregiver during disasters. Children and family members may be brought to different hospitals, care site, or even different states.

This problem became magnified during Hurricane Katrina when over 5,000 children were separate from their families. It took over 6 months for them to be reunited.

Separated children not only suffer emotional trauma but are also at higher risk for abuse, neglect, and abduction.

Who should have reunification plans?

Families should have a clear communication plan during disasters and emergencies that includes important contact information and possibly a pre-agreed upon reunification site.

If the child is of appropriate age, they should be able to know the names of trust people, contact information, email addresses, and phone numbers. 

Hospitals should engage key stakeholders (including child life specialists, social workers, and chaplains) to develop reunification plans in case of disasters.

Child-care centers, and schools should also be responsible for creating reunification protocols.

All reunification plans should be practiced and drilled.

Identification

Children do not typically carry any form of identification.

Depending on age, infants/toddlers sometimes cannot self-identify.

There are a few methods of helping identify unaccompanied children but no system is perfect.

Registries

There are various registries for unaccompanied/missing children that include:

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Unaccompanied Minors Registry
• National Emergency Family Registry
• National Child Emergency Child Locator Center

Information is often not shared among registries. National registries are often unavailable for local emergencies.

Image-based Identification

Although pictures may be a helpful aid in reuniting children with families, caregivers have shared that under stressful circumstances it was difficult for them to identify their children by this method alone. 

These systems can also include the ability to search for the child based on  details such as skin color, eye color, age.

Another limitation of image-based identification is that should the child suffer severe and disfiguring trauma or injury, they may be difficult to recognize.

DNA-based Identification

This method has been used by federal agencies to help reunite children from migrant families with parents. This technology is not readily available everywhere. It also becomes limited in cases where caregiver and child are not biologically-related (for example, adoption).

Privacy Concerns

There is debate over who parents and caregivers trust with information about their child that is uploaded onto registries or databases. 

Agencies should be mindful of any potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in their reunification planning.